517 dengue cases, two deaths in Bengal

Kolkata: The number of confirmed dengue cases in West Bengal has gone up to 517, of which two patients including a nine-year-old girl have died, the state health department said Thursday.

"Two people have died of dengue and the total number of cases is 517. In Kolkata alone, there are 323 cases of dengue," said a health department statement.

Nine-year old Sreeja Das was the first dengue victim in the state.

The epidemic first struck in the second week of August.

Several people in and around Kolkata have been hospitalised with symptoms similar to dengue.

The state government will launch an intense awareness campaign throughout the disease-prone areas and train 142 medical officers of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to tackle the menace, as most of the confirmed cases are reported in the city.

The dengue-prone areas have been divided into category A and B, going by the intensiveness of the disease in the area. Kolkata is under category A and areas of Howrah, Siliguri and Asansol are under category B.